Dreaming In Metaphors

Dreaming In Metaphors

Metaphors are a big part of my artistic toolbox - I would probably be lost without them, frankly. I reach for them, I study up on topics to apply them to my imagery and I see them at work in most films and stories. They can be dialogue or objects, talismans clearly pointing the way or shadows obscuring them to all but the discerning eye. Some people have no patience for them in life or in fiction. Some people prefer it said plainly and bluntly.

I am not one of those people. There is, in my opinion, no art in that - the photographic equivalent would be street photography or perhaps a documentary film. Not to say that those genres can't be artistic - they can, but their emphasis is on "reality" - unaltered and as it happens. Naturally this is far from my center as I use the photographs as a jumping off point and labor with them to say something. And when they do say something, it is usually not clearly or to the point, but that is how I prefer it. Did you ever misunderstand a favorite lyric and think the line to be something else? This is a gray area, a place where the listener, or in my case the viewer, can inject their own personal point of view into something. Leaving areas of obscurity is important. You might think that writing these companion notes to my images would dispel the potential for that free interpretation, and you would be right, but I suspect that many people look first, then read later, and some do not read these notes at all. And that is perfectly fine! I consider it a failure if the piece only succeeds with a roadmap to accompany it and even if someone gets something entirely different from an image than what I intended, it is still attaching to the viewer somehow so it hardly matters what is "right."

So now we come to the image at hand, improvised with the model at the time we shot it, having the model react, flail about, writhe in a chair with some mood lighting overhead. I never know what the raw pieces will be at the time, but this model, this lighting, and this much open space to interpret usually leads me to something. This piece is about dreams, and dreams are usually rife with metaphor and almost never say anything directly. Of course, no one knows for sure if the contents of dreams are meant to be heeded as subconscious messages at all - they could be just nonsense. The same could be said of art as well though. The same piece of art can look like nonsense to some and speak volumes to others. I suspect that the artistic inclinations of the person in question directly affect the metaphorical substance and frequency. In other words, the more prone to metaphorical artistic expression you are, your dreams may be that much more elaborate than those who prefer a more straightforward diet. But that is just a theory. As with most things about dreams, nothing is clear, nothing is defined.

This image is based on the elusive nature of dreams and how they seems to evaporate upon awakening. They seem to have a very short life once our conscious mind takes over. All the pieces in this image are delicate in nature, like the membrane of a dream: Smoke and vapor, water and bubble that burst with the slightest touch.

It was inspired by a song from Seal by the same name, and was always one of my favorites. I had this song in mind when I started working on it and played it several times as I was editing over the last three days. It didn't come very easily, this one, but sometimes dreams take a little time to understand!

A Before and After version of this song can be seen on my Facebook page at: www.Facebook.com/MichaelBilottaPhotography

Lyrics from the song:

Why must we dream in metaphors?
Try to hold on to something we couldn't understand.
Couldn't understand.
And why must we argue loudly?
When peace is our one salvation.
I couldn't understand
Couldn't understand

Model: Ed Barron